Into the Wild

– William Stafford –

So many say they want it to be different. I want it to be different. More participation; more employees (all employees?) ready, willing and able to express themselves, surface ideas, share challenges, engage in open conversation about present challenges and future progress.

“This is what we want, right?” They nod, “Yes. Yes we do.”

I don’t think so.

I don’t think they know what it means to follow that path. Have they anticipated the possibilities? The chaos of expression and its hanging expectation? The messiness of “we want to hear it but we probably won’t do anything about it”? The massive shift in control from the few to the many? The cynicism, the frustration, the “I told you so.”

Do they really know what they are asking for?

I don’t think so.

And yet, there is, down that rough trail, through that dank forest, beyond that surging river and over that mountain the possibility of a new way.

We should go there.

Let’s go.

© 2010 David Berry